How To Heal A Broken Heart
by VibeQuake
Summary: Perry, OWCA's top agent, has recently suffered a scarring personal loss and, as such, has built up walls separating himself emotionally from even his closest friends. On the one year anniversary of the tragedy, Perry is assigned to train a rookie called Sylvia. Can she break down his walls and give Perry the chance to love again? (standalone story) Possible PerryXOC
1. Prologue

**I know I have Alpha Universe and Beta Universe but this is not a universe. Since Priya and Iris are my two main mates for Perry, they are the main universes, but this is just a story. It's not a universe in itself. Am I over-explaining this? XD Leave a review and tell me if I am over-explaining this.**

…

Sleeping wasn't the same anymore. Edith's scent was long gone from the sheet and blankets, so he couldn't seek comfort that way. Besides, he could never get to sleep because he kept thinking about Edith and the fact that she was really gone. To avoid this, Perry worked so late at the office that by the time he got home, he would fall asleep straight away. That was if he even made it home. More often than not, Pinky or Natasha would find Perry in the morning, asleep at his desk. But whether he fell asleep at home or in his office, the nightmares would still come.

Although he had tried so hard to forget, he simply couldn't. That single moment when he had lost everything was burned into his memory. He revisited it every night in his nightmares, even though he had tried everything to prevent it. He had lost count of all the sessions he had had with OWCA's counsellor, Artemis, who had diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Though this was obvious to everybody who knew Perry before that incident a year ago, which had been dubbed E-Day, in honour of Edith. Watching their mate die was not something that someone could go through and emerge from unchanged, not even Perry, who was OWCA's strongest agent, mentally.

Pinky the Chihuahua and Natasha the Fennec Fox used to be Perry's best friends. They still considered themselves Perry's closest friends, but the teal platypus agent possibly wouldn't. Ever since E-Day, Perry had shut himself off from them. He barely talked to them—or anybody, for that matter—and he stopped going out and having fun with them, like he used to. Despite this, Pinky and Natasha continued to help and support Perry. The teal platypus had not only been diagnosed with PTSD, but depression and anxiety, the latter of which often led to panic attacks if he thought about E-Day too much or for too long.

That was why Pinky and Natasha often took turns discreetly watching their best friend in case the platypus had a panic attack or needed someone to talk to. More often than not, it was the former that came into play. In fact, Natasha was so worried about the high frequency of panic attacks that Perry was getting, that she went to OWCA's doctor, Apollo, Artemis's twin brother, and was given a special device nicknamed the CA, for Cardiac Arrest. When someone had a panic attack, their heart rate always rose alarmingly. The CA lowered the heart rate and helped calm someone having a panic attack down enough for them to recover more quickly. This device was passed from Natasha to Pinky and back again depending on whose "shift" it was to watch Perry. The platypus often never even realised they were there.

Pinky and Natasha often wished they could do something to help Perry. On the year anniversary of E-Day, their wish came true.

…

 **I know this chapter is short but it's a prologue so it's okay. Thoughts so far?**


	2. Introducing Conflict

**FIRST CHAPTER! YAY!**

…

Natasha was working in her office when she heard a knock at the door. She spun her chair round and saw Pinky standing there. She initially smiled until she saw that her boyfriend had a rather serious look on his face. "Is everything okay?"

"Do you remember what day it is today?" asked Pinky soberly.

Natasha frowned, thinking, until it dawned on her and she pressed the backs of her fingers to her mouth. "E-Day," she said quietly. "One year since Edith died."

Pinky nodded sadly. "That means we'll have to be extra supportive for Perry, okay?"

Natasha sighed through her nose. "Sometimes I question what the point is, Pinks. He doesn't appreciate what we do for him. I don't think he even notices." She turned back round in her chair to face her computer, where a photo of the three friends, smiling, was pinned. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't just let him down but I also don't want to be stuck like this forever: stuck in this loop of helping him and getting ignored for it." She hesitated. "Is…is that bad?"

"No, it isn't." Pinky approached Natasha and began rubbing her shoulders. "I feel the same way sometimes too. Like you said, it feels like a loop: doing the same thing every day. But also like you said, we can't let him down. We're his best friends, even if he doesn't notice us. As long as our efforts make even the tiniest difference to his day, then it's worth it."

Natasha gave a small smile. "Maybe our efforts are letting him heal faster?"

"Keep thinking like that," Pinky advised. "Keep thinking that we're helping him heal faster, because it may well be true. But until Perry decides to open up to us again, we won't know."

"Yeah…" Natasha smiled at her boyfriend. "What time does Perry usually get in? Is he here already?"

"He might be. Let's go see."

…

As a matter of fact, Perry _was_ in. He had arrived before anyone else and had cleared the office floor of all decorations and party things. He had heard yesterday that the agents were planning to celebrate the day. Perry didn't blame them for that. He thought that he would be able to handle the celebration but when he went home and tried to sleep, the horror of E-Day was slammed in his face, and he didn't want anyone celebrating the fact that Edith was dead.

Now he was in his office with a waste-paper-bin full of decorations. But even that was taunting him, so he flung the whole bin out of the window. He stormed back to his office and placed his hands firmly on his desk, hanging his head. He breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down. _You don't want another panic attack_ , he reminded himself.

Slowly, he felt his blood pressure lowering. He sat down behind his desk and tried to ignore the picture of a smiling Edith that was pinned up on the wall above his computer. Unfortunately, he couldn't. No sooner had he looked at the picture than he started to cry. He put his arms on his desk and rested his forehead on them, simply allowing himself to cry. Artemis had said that the release of emotions kept people healthy, so it was okay to cry every once in a while.

It was then that Natasha and Pinky came to the door. Seeing their best friend in such a state, they exchanged an incredibly sad look, before Pinky put his hand on the teal platypus's shaking shoulder. Perry violently flinched, so Pinky backed away to the door.

Natasha took over. She put her arm round Perry but the platypus agent literally pushed her away. Then he got up and walked towards the door. Natasha and Pinky both backed out of his way. They watched him leave the office and turn a corner.

Natasha almost cried. Nothing ever made her cry: not her fears, not bullies, not anything. Apart from knowing that her best friend apart from Pinky was hurting so badly and she couldn't do anything to alleviate his pain.

"He really misses Edith," Pinky stated quietly.

"We all do," Natasha sighed. "But him most of all, I get it. I'm not saying that he shouldn't still be grieving. It has only been a year."

"It's been _exactly_ a year," reminded Pinky. "It's only natural he'd be feeling worse on this day."

Natasha composed herself and rubbed her eyes under her black-rimmed glasses. "We had better get back to work."

…

Perry didn't really know where he was going but he only realised he was outside Major Monogram's office when the major himself poked his head out and said, "Ah, Agent P. Could you come in here a minute?"

Wiping his eyes so he looked half-presentable, Perry entered Major Monogram's office and immediately stopped short. A platypus with very light purple fur was sitting on a chair in front of Monogram's desk. For a moment, he thought it was Edith. She looked _exactly_ like Edith. But then he shook his head. Edith was dead.

He went and sat on the chair next to the platypus. Trying not to stare, he gave her a once-over. She had brown eyes, like Edith's; lilac fur, like Edith's; and even the way she sat was like Edith. She gave Perry a smile, and even that looked like Edith. Ignoring the fact that his heart was now twisting in his chest, Perry looked at Major Monogram, who had just sat down behind his desk.

"Agent P, this is Sylvia the Platypus. She's the younger sister of Sampson and Hugh, two famous BOWCA agents. That's the British Organisation Without A Cool Acronym."

Perry didn't bother to snap at the major that he knew what BOWCA was, as he would have done before E-Day.

"She's here for exactly three weeks on a training assignment from Inspector Initials," continued Major Monogram. "I want you to train her."

Perry's heart almost stopped. It was bad enough that he had a platypus who looked just like Edith running around OWCA for nearly a month, but he had to _train_ her?

"Uh…sir…can I talk to you for a minute?" Perry could barely get the words out. "Alone?"

"Sure." Monogram turned to Sylvia. "Agent Sylvia, how about you go down to reception and meet Agent P there? You know the way, right?"

"Yes, sir," said Sylvia, speaking for the first time. Perry realised that she had an English accent.

 _Well, duh. She's from England, idiot._

Sylvia got up off the chair with another Edith-like smile at Perry and left the room, closing the door behind her. Perry waited ten seconds to make sure she was gone, before he stood up hard, violently tipping the chair over, and shouted, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"Shout louder, I think there are still one or two people in Canada who didn't hear you," said Monogram, sounding mildly amused.

"She looks exactly like Edith!" Perry shouted. "And you knew about that, yet you assigned her to me anyway!"

"It's because you're one of OWCA's top agents," Monogram said calmly. "It's nothing to do with the fact that she looks like Agent Edith."

"I can't train her!" Perry snapped. "Assign someone else to me!"

"It's already done," Monogram said. "And anyway, it's only for three weeks."

"I can't even handle being in the same room with her for three _seconds_!" Perry hit the desk with his paw. "Sir, this is incredibly unfair to me!"

"Agent P." For the first time since entering the office, Perry heard the stern tone in the major's voice and fell silent. "I will expect you to train her to the best of your ability. Do you understand?"

Perry bit back several angry replies and said, "Yes, sir," though his tone could not have been more frosty.

"Good. Dismissed."

…

 **Poor Perry. Here's the conflict he has to suffer: Sylvia looks like Edith. How is he going to get past this?**


	3. Beginning Of The Day

***sighs* this chapter took me ages and it isn't even that long XD**

…

As Perry made his way to reception, he stormed past his friends, Pinky and Natasha.

The Chihuahua tried to step in front of Perry but the platypus carried on walking. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Fine." Perry's snappy retort did nothing to reassure Pinky.

"Are you sure?" Pinky asked.

"I said I'm fine!" yelled Perry, turning to look Pinky angrily in the face.

The Chihuahua stood back in alarm. "I-I'm sorry…"

Perry turned back and stormed off down the corridor. Pinky and Natasha watched him turn a corner.

"Well, at least now he's acknowledging us," Natasha said optimistically. "Even if it's not in the way we wanted."

"This isn't better," Pinky said quietly.

Natasha went in front of her best friend, who was hanging his head, and craned her neck so that she could see his face. To her surprise, she saw tears dripping down Pinky's face.

"This isn't better," the Chihuahua repeated, shaking more than usual. "I preferred it when he just ignored us because at least there was a sliver of hope that he understood what we were doing and appreciated it. Now…now he's angry with us…" His voice trailed off into a whisper as he said, "Now it's like he doesn't want us around, after everything we're doing for him."

Natasha put her arms round Pinky and held the shaking Chihuahua tenderly. "It's okay. It's just a hard day for him. We can help him get over this. We can."

…

Sylvia was waiting in reception, just as Major Monogram told her to. She felt optimistic about her training, though she was nervous about being in a foreign country on her own. Usually her brothers came with her everywhere but today, only one of her brothers was in America with her, and he was-.

"Syl!"

Sylvia turned to see her oldest brother, Sampson, holding a familiar baby platypus.

"Nicky!"

Sylvia ran up to her brother and addressed the one-month-old platypus in his arms. "How's my little boy?"

"Moofie!" yelled Nicky, waving his arms around.

Sylvia gave Sampson an amused look. "Moofie?"

Her brother shrugged. "We passed some cows on the way here," he said. "He said the word "poofie" so I tried to say "poofie isn't really the right word to describe a cow", only I accidentally said "moofie" instead of "poofie", so I think he's picked that up."

"Better "moofie" than a rude word," Sylvia grinned.

"Moofie!" yelled Nicky again. "Mummy!"

Sampson gladly passed Nicky into his mother's arms. Sylvia held the baby under his arms and held him up to her face so that she could look into his eyes.

"Who wants to watch Mummy do some training?" she asked enthusiastically.

Nicky responded to this by planting both of his tiny paws on Sylvia's beak. She laughed, making Nicky giggle too.

"Mummy laugh!" he yelled. "Mummy happy!"

"Why is it that sometimes he can string two words together like this and other times he comes out with words like "moofie"?" asked Sylvia amusedly.

"He's your son," grinned Sampson.

Sylvia twisted her leg round to stand hard on her brother's foot. "Ow! What?" he laughed. Then his face grew serious. "Have you heard from Tony recently?"

Sylvia's smile also vanished and she sighed. "No."

Sampson looked angry so Sylvia quickly added, "But he's very busy with work and he doesn't have time to-."

"He's the father of your baby!" Sampson snapped. " _And_ he earns enough to pay for a plane ticket from England to the States literally seven times over. He can spare the time to send you the money you need."

"Sam, it's okay," Sylvia appeased. "Really. He's not my mate so he doesn't have to support me."

"Again, he's the father of your baby! It's not like you earn a fortune in OWCA, and that's the only reason I'm reacting like this. If you earned enough to support yourself _and_ Nicky, I wouldn't be saying anything. But you don't. And until you become a full agent of OWCA, you won't. That's why I'm pushing so hard."

"I know," sighed Sylvia. "But you don't need to worry about me so much."

At that moment, an angry-looking Perry came into reception. "Sylvia!"

Sylvia bit her lip and grimaced as Sampson snapped, "Why is that platypus yelling at you?"

"He's my trainer," Sylvia said. "He's a little temperamental."

Sampson narrowed his eyes at Perry, who was looking impatiently over at Sylvia.

"That seems obvious."

"I gotta go." Sylvia smiled. "Thanks for taking Nicky this morning. I'm sure I can find something to entertain him while I train."

Sampson nodded, still looking suspiciously at Perry. "Don't let him boss you around too much," he said. "If he abuses you or does something to upset you, come and tell me immediately."

"I will. Thanks."

Sampson gave Sylvia a hug and left OWCA through the main door. Still holding Nicky, Sylvia went over to Perry.

"Took a while, didn't you?" he snapped.

Sylvia hated people being angry or upset with her—especially if she had done nothing to them to deserve it—but she swallowed down a retort and said, "Sorry, that was my brother."

Perry's eyes flickered to the adorable baby platypus in Sylvia's arms. "And this is…?"

"Oh, this is my son, Nicky."

Sylvia shifted her arms, making Nicky start. He peered up at Perry. "Moofie!" he yelled.

Perry raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Is anyone coming to take him?"

Sylvia shook her head. "My brother is busy and I don't know anyone else here."

"I can get someone for you."

"I…um…I'd rather have him either with someone I know or with me."

Perry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and said nothing, so Sylvia hesitantly asked, "Is-is that okay?"

"As long as he doesn't keep you from your training, I don't care where you put him."

Sylvia nodded hurriedly. "He won't keep me from anything, I promise."

"Don't promise anything as far as babies are concerned," Perry said sullenly. "They're too unpredictable."

Thinking that this was a bit odd, Sylvia said nothing. The awkward silence was broken by Nicky yelling, "Moofie!"

Perry scowled and began to walk away. Sylvia grimaced and followed.

She could tell it was going to be a long day.

…

 **Aww who loves baby Nicky?** ** _I_** **love baby Nicky!**


	4. Training part 1 of 2

**More baby Nicky on the way 3**

…

Using some hurdles from the gym's sports shed, Sylvia constructed a playpen for her son. The baby platypus ambled around inside it, occasionally yelling "moofie!" or something similar.

"Be good, okay?" Sylvia said to him.

"Blaga!" Nicky yelled.

Sylvia grinned. "That's my boy."

She headed back over to the other side of the otherwise-empty gym to where Perry was waiting. "Sorry," she grinned sheepishly.

Perry did not smile. "Okay, let's get to work. You're here for three weeks, yes?"

"Yes…sir."

Perry did not show either pleasure or displeasure at being called "sir". "Do you have any experience working in OWCA?"

"No, sir."

Perry was mildly irritated by that but not annoyed. Yet. "Do you have any experience in martial arts?"

"No, sir."

Perry stared at her. "Do you have any experience _fighting?"_

"Uh…no...I don't have any experience fighting," Sylvia said. "I'm a singer-songwriter, mostly. I write songs and perform them. It's what I really love. Well, there's also something else, but I don't think it'll be useful here."

"What?"

"I don't know how to fight, sir," Sylvia said patiently. "I have never been taught."

Perry pinched the bridge of his nose. "You mean to tell me I have three weeks to train you up…from _scratch?"_

"I-I'm a quick learner, sir."

"Your file said you have four brothers and you're telling me _none_ of them taught you how to fight?"

"They didn't, sir."

"Jesus…"

Perry knew his job had just become ten times harder. "Okay, well, let's start with the basics. Many complex moves are just levelled-up basic moves, so let's start with hitting and kicking."

Perry brought out a dummy. It had a stand and a pole, which placed the dummy at about chest height. It was made of white material and in the shape of a human torso without arms. It was connected to the pole by a spring, meaning it could move from side to side and front to back.

"That's creepy," commented Sylvia.

"Just hit the dummy," sighed Perry.

Sylvia did so. It felt satisfying so she hit it again. And again. And again.

"Okay, stop now," snapped Perry. "When you hit the dummy, there's a certain position you should end in. Like this."

Perry adopted the pose. His right leg was bent and behind his left leg, which was out straight, facing towards the dummy. His right arm was bent up at the elbow and behind his head, just lower than if he was about to throw a shot putt, his hand in a fist. His other arm was outstretched towards the dummy, his hand again in a fist.

"This is the pose you must adopt after hitting the dummy," Perry said. "Also, you will notice that a lot of animals have their own battle stance. This is ours. Platypuses', I mean. Except for one thing." Perry opened his left hand out so that his hand was completely straight. "So if anyone ever calls for "battle stance", this is what they mean."

Sylvia copied the pose. "Okay. Got it."

"Now hit the dummy like you mean it and end with that pose."

Sylvia relaxed the pose and raised her fists.

"No, do the position again."

Sylvia obeyed.

"This is the position you must use when you're about to hit the dummy. Except…"

Perry switched her arms over so that they were doing what the other used to be doing.

"Hit it with your right hand and then pull back into the first pose."

Sylvia tried but her feet wouldn't stay in the same position. She almost tripped over as she went in to hit the dummy.

"No, keep your feet still!" Perry ordered. "Still!"

"S-sorry…"

Perry made her do it again. And again. And again.

Sylvia was beginning to sweat from exhaustion. It didn't help that Perry seemed to be growing more and more impatient with her. As she hit the dummy yet again and held the pose, she looked back at Perry, hoping for praise. She had done everything right: starting with one pose and ending with another.

However, Perry just moved Sylvia's right arm lower, tapped her leg with his foot until she moved it two inches to the right, and said, "Again."

Sylvia bit back tears and said, "Yes, sir."

She tried to do it again but her legs gave out and she fell against the dummy, clutching it for support.

"I shouldn't have to deal with this," snapped Perry.

"I'm…sorry…sir…" Sylvia wheezed. "I'm just…really tired…"

"Stamina is crucial for OWCA agents," Perry snarled.

Sylvia stared at her trainer, unsure if she had imagined him actually snarling at her. "I-I'm usually good with stamina," she coughed. "I-I used to dance a lot. It's just that I'm not used to actually hitting things."

"Well if you want to be a halfway decent OWCA agent, you're going to have to get used to hitting things!" Perry shouted at her.

Sylvia bent her head and squeezed her eyes shut to try and prevent tears. It was only her first day and it was already horrible. "I-I'm sorry…I was just-."

"I don't want excuses, I want effort!" snapped Perry. "Do it again."

Sylvia pushed herself off the floor and arranged her limbs into the position that Perry had taught her. Anger and confusion at Perry's actions made Sylvia perform the move perfectly. Even she could tell that. She looked back at Perry with a hint of challenge on her face.

"Satisfactory," Perry said, scowling. "Try it ten times in a row."

Sylvia almost cried again. She bit her lip and nodded.

She tried her best to comply. She really did. However, she had already pushed her stamina past breaking point and she only managed three weak attempts before she sank to the floor, gasping for breath. Through her blurry vision, she saw Perry shaking his head in disappointment.

"Take a break and be back here in exactly ten minutes."

…

 **Poor Sylvia :(**


	5. Training part 2 of 2

**I do not own the songs in this chapter**

…

Sylvia nodded hurriedly and scrambled up off the floor. She almost ran over to the other side of the room and scooped up her son, who had begun to cry loudly. She rocked him and jiggled him in her arms, trying to calm him down. But it had always seemed like Nicky's emotions were linked to hers because he wouldn't stop crying. Sylvia wiped the tears out of her eyes but more tears just replaced them.

She tried singing:

 _Come stop your crying, it will be alright_

 _Just take my hand, hold it tight_

 _I will protect you from all around you_

 _I will be here, don't you cry._

It worked. Singing had always calmed her down, and it seemed to cheer Nicky up too.

"Doncry!" he babbled.

"It's _don't you cry_ ," Sylvia giggled, laughing through her tears. "Do you want me to sing it again?"

"Sing! Sing!"

Sylvia began the seconds verse:

 _For one so small, you seem so strong_

 _My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm_

 _I will protect you from all around you_

 _I will be here, don't you cry._

Sylvia decided to go into the chorus:

 _'_ _Cause you'll be in my heart_

 _Yes, you'll be in my heart_

 _From this day on, now and forever more_

 _You'll be in my heart_

 _No matter what they say_

 _You'll be in my heart_

 _Always._

"Hushbye!" Nicky waved his arms in the air when she had finished. "Hushbye!"

Sylvia knew exactly which song he wanted. Smiling, she cleared her throat and sang:

 _A gentle breeze, from Hushabye Mountain_

 _Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay_

 _It fills the sails of boats that are waiting_

 _Waiting to sail your worries away._

It was a lullaby that Sylvia had created specifically for Nicky. Until recently, he had had trouble sleeping; none of Sylvia's songs helped him go to sleep, and Sylvia's singing voice was the only thing that calmed him down. Then Sylvia had remembered a place that her parents had made up for her: Hushabye Mountain. According to them, it was where little kids went when they dreamed. It was a land of amazing things, and so Sylvia made up a lullaby based on that.

She sung the second verse:

 _It isn't far, to Hushabye Mountain_

 _And your boat waits down by the quay_

 _The winds of night so softly are sighing_

 _Soon they will fly your troubles to sea._

Then the chorus:

 _So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain_

 _Wave goodbye to cares of the day_

 _And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain_

 _Sail far away from Lullaby Bay._

She decided to finish the song:

 _So watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain_

 _Sail far away from Lullaby Bay_

 _Sail far away from Lullaby Bay_

Before she had finished the chorus, Nicky was snoozing in her arms. She smiled down at her little son and looked around for a place to put him. She settled for a blue gym mat in the corner of the room. It wasn't ultra-soft but it was softer than the floor, so she placed the small peach-coloured platypus in the middle of the mat and arranged the hurdles around him in case he woke up while she was still away.

When she turned back to Perry, she saw that her trainer was leaning against the wall with his arms folded and his eyes closed. She walked back over to him, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm ready to continue."

Perry said nothing for a minute. "I've never heard either of those songs before."

Sylvia stared at him. "You-you heard?"

"You were singing in an empty gym. Your voice carried."

"Oh…" Sylvia was hesitant to talk to Perry after the way he had treated her. "I-I said I was a singer-songwriter. I wrote them myself."

Perry's eyes opened and he regarded her with some surprise on his face. "You wrote them?"

Sylvia hesitantly nodded.

Perry raised an eyebrow. "They were good."

Inwardly, Sylvia sighed. This was her first compliment from Perry and it wasn't about her training: it was about her songs. Still, it was a start. She perked up a little. "Well, _You'll Be In My Heart_ is preferably supposed to be sung by a male. It should be in a lower octave than I sang it in. _Hushabye Mountain_ is just a lullaby I made up for my son."

"It works," Perry stated. He seemed embarrassed by the compliment he was giving. "Anyway, let's practise that move a few more times and then we'll go onto some new ones."

"Um…exactly what time am I supposed to finish?" Sylvia asked.

"Ten."

"Pm?" gasped Sylvia. "But Nicky's bedtime is at seven!"

"Tough," sneered Perry.

After having _almost_ shown a kind side, it seemed that Perry was back to being hard and mean. Sylvia sighed and prepared herself for the second time for a long day.

…

 **The first song in this chapter is called You'll Be In My Heart, by Phil Collins. The second is Hushabye Mountain, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I do not own either of them; I only pretend that Sylvia wrote them herself.**

 **Also: I recommend looking up Alexander Armstrong's rendition of Hushabye Mountain. It's quite deep so don't imagine Sylvia's voice sounding like that XD but it's a great song :)**


	6. The First Night

**There are three songs in this chapter so you might want to look them up and play them as you read that bit.**

 **They are:**

 **Try Everything-Shakira**

 **Hushabye Mountain-Alexander Armstrong (though it's only one verse)**

 **I Know How The Moon Must Feel-Dayna Manning**

…

The apartment was dark so Sylvia nudged the light switch on with her forehead so as to not wake the sleeping platypus in her arms.

Since Sampson and Sylvia's other brothers travelled to America so often, they had bought an apartment in Danville, and this is what Sylvia was using. She was on her own; Sampson was flying to Brazil to visit a friend for a vacation. His flight was at midnight.

Sylvia lay Nicky gently down in his cot and covered him with a blanket. As she showered and got ready for bed, she reflected on the day. Her limbs were aching and she still had not properly caught her breath. Perry had forced her to do the same moves over and over and over again. He was acting as if he only had a week to train her instead of three weeks. She just didn't understand why Perry hated her so much. She had briefly considered that it was just that he hated everyone, but at one point during training, a Chihuahua and a fennec fox had come in and Perry had been slightly more civil with them as he had been with her. She wished that he would go easier on her; it wasn't as if she was a machine, able to go a long time without rests. Perry hadn't even let her take a drink of water until she was literally gasping on the floor.

As she switched the water off, she felt one of her songs come into her head, a motivational song that she had written on the plane coming to America:

 _I messed up tonight_

 _I lost another fight_

 _I still mess up but I'll just start again_

 _I keep falling down_

 _I keep on hitting the ground_

 _I always get up now to see what's next._

She danced along her evening routine, singing her song:

 _Birds don't just fly, they fall down and get up_

 _Nobody learns without getting it wrong._

 _I won't give up, no I won't give in_

 _'_ _Til I reach the end, and then I'll start again_

 _No I won't leave, I wanna try everything_

 _I wanna try, even though I could fail._

As she went to turn the light out, she heard Nicky wake up and start to cry. She quickly went to his cot and found that she had forgotten to give him his favourite toy: a small pink plush rabbit that was the same size he was. Sylvia's grandmother had given her the toy when she was little, and she had held onto it for her future child.

She dug it out of her suitcase and dropped it into the cot next to Nicky, who sniffed at it and then hugged it tightly.

"Moofie!" he proclaimed.

"How about we call your rabbit Moofie?" grinned Sylvia. "Would you like that?"

"Moofie," agreed Nicky solemnly.

"Let's christen him."

Sylvia placed her finger on the rabbit's forehead and pretended to baptise him. Nicky giggled and copied the movement with his own finger.

Before she realised what she was doing, Sylvia was singing again:

 _A gentle breeze, from Hushabye Mountain_

 _Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay_

 _It fills the sails of boats that are waiting_

 _Waiting to sail your worries away._

She paused to see if Nicky wanted the rest of the song, but her baby son was asleep, one arm around Moofie and his other thumb in his mouth. Sylvia's heart melted with the amount of cuteness. She quietly snapped a photo on her phone, when the thing began ringing. The caller ID said _Sampson._

She answered it: "Hey Sam."

"Syl! How's my favourite OWCA agent?"

"I'm not an agent yet," laughed Sylvia. "But I'm good. You?"

"Wishing I'd slept more during the day," was Sampson's answer, making Sylvia giggle. "How's Nick?"

"Fast asleep. You know that toy rabbit Granny gave to me that I gave to him?"

"Yeah?"

"We christened it Moofie."

Even though Sampson didn't actually sigh, Sylvia heard it in his voice when he said: "So now there's a permanent reminder of my slip of the tongue? Great."

Sylvia giggled again.

"So how was training?"

The smile quickly slid off Sylvia's face. "It was…uh…interesting."

"Did he hurt you?" Sampson demanded.

"No-no." Sylvia shook her head hurriedly, even though Sampson couldn't see that. "He just…pushed me a little hard, that's all." She sat down on the sofa and felt herself wince at the pain in her legs and lower body. "I'm stiff now."

She forced a laugh but Sampson didn't sound amused. "I swear, if he doesn't let up on you, I will sprout wings and fly back over here and kick his butt."

"Platypuses can't sprout wings," grinned Sylvia.

"Then I'll be the first. Seriously, Syl. Once I'm in Brazil, I'll have Wi-Fi and I'll be able to FaceTime you every night and you're going to tell me everything that's happened that day. If I hear of him abusing you or hurting you in any way, I will fly back over here and kick his butt. Don't protect him or hide anything, okay, Sylvia?"

Sylvia nodded solemnly. "Okay, Sampson."

"Moofie!"

Sylvia turned to see Nicky, using the side of the cot to stand up. He had a goofy grin plastered on his face, and Moofie was dangling in his right paw.

"Sason!" he yelled.

"Is that my favourite nephew?" Sylvia could hear the grin in Sampson's voice.

"It's the nephew who should be asleep in bed because it's way past his bedtime," said Sylvia, only half-stern, to her son. "Come on, now, back to sleep."

She got up and went over to the cot, still holding the phone in her hand. She tucked it between her neck and her shoulder as she tucked Nicky back into bed and placed Moofie next to him.

"And whose fault is it that it's way past his bedtime?"

Sampson's tone was teasing but it stung Sylvia because she knew it really wasn't her fault.

"I'll try and make Perry let me go earlier than ten pm tomorrow," she said, a little more savagely than she had intended.

 _"_ _He only let you go at ten o' clock?"_ Sampson paused. "That's it. Where does he live?"

"Sam, please, just forget about it." Sylvia sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Please just forget about it," Sylvia repeated. "I'm fine."

There was another pause. "Fine. But when I FaceTime you, I'll be able to see your face and tell if you're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"I'll let your eyes by the judge of that."

"My eyes?"

"I have a system to tell when you're lying."

"Tell me."

"Nope. Then you'll stop doing it."

Sylvia laughed and clutched the phone tighter, not wanting to stop talking to her brother, who was—apart from Nicky—her only link to home.

"Sing something for me, will you?"

Sylvia smiled, even though again she knew that Sampson couldn't see her. "What do you want me to sing?"

"Something upbeat."

Sylvia thought for a moment.

 _I know how the moon must feel_

 _Looking down from the heavens_

 _Smiling at the silly things_

 _We put ourselves through_

 _Missing magic each day_

 _And not seeing the wonder_

 _That's how the moon must feel._

"That's not really upbeat," commented Sampson.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Never said that."

Biting back a grin, Sylvia continued:

 _I know how the moon must feel_

 _Starry-eyed and contented_

 _Everything is beautiful_

 _As it all should be_

 _Far away from it all_

 _Never needing to hurry_

 _That's how the moon must feel._

Sylvia paused.

"Please finish the song?" asked Sampson. "My flight leaves soon and I won't be able to stand not hearing my sister's beautiful singing voice until I land."

Sylvia grinned this time and obliged:

 _From up there our worries must seem very small_

 _Maybe that is why he wears a smile_

 _I'm sure he knows if there is more to life_

 _Wish I could be him for a while._

 _(chorus)_

 _I know how the moon must feel_

 _Looking down from the heavens_

 _Smiling at the silly things_

 _We put ourselves through_

 _Missing magic each day_

 _And not seeing the wonder_

 _That's how the moon must feel._

Sylvia hummed the instrumental break that she had put in.

 _I'm sure he knows if there is more to life_

 _Wish I could be him for a while._

 _(chorus)_

 _I know how the moon must feel_

 _And I can't say I blame him_

 _Smiling at the silly things_

 _We put ourselves through_

 _Never taking our time_

 _Always running in circles_

 _That's how the moon must feel._

Sampson paused as if imagining the closing music playing.

"Beautiful," he stated. "Oh, that's my call. They're calling my flight for boarding. I have to go now."

"Have a good flight and may all the crying babies and seat-kickers be relegated to seats nowhere near you."

"I thank you," said Sampson grandly. "Love you."

"Love you too."

The line clicked off. Smiling, Sylvia got herself into bed and was asleep before she had even switched the light off.

…

 **I do not own any of the songs in this chapter.**


	7. A Box

**This is just going to be a short chapter :)**

…

Meanwhile, Perry was still in his office. After finally dismissing Sylvia, he had come straight up here. He was typing on his computer, writing an angry email to Major Monogram that he was never going to send.

When he had finished it, he sighed and deleted it, before pushing his office chair backwards away from the desk. Rubbing his eyes in both exhaustion and frustration, he wondered how exactly he could go on. He knew he wasn't being fair to poor Sylvia. He had pushed her way too far, especially for her first day. But he couldn't help it. Every time he saw her face, it just stabbed him in the heart that this platypus who looked like Edith was here but Edith herself wasn't.

Speaking of Edith…

Perry shot his desk a look. It _was_ the anniversary of her death…maybe he could bring himself to even have a peek at the thing.

He bent under his desk and took out the taped-shut cardboard box. It was about the size of five closed laptops stacked on top of each other. He had put the box under the desk when Edith had died. It had been delivered to him by Major Monogram. He suspected he knew what it was: when an agent died, their personal belongings were put into a cardboard box and given to their closest relative, which in Edith's case happened to be Perry.

He had looked at the thing many times, trying to work up the courage to look at his deceased mate's belongings, but his nerve had failed him every time and he hadn't been able to.

Now he stroked the side of it as if stroking Edith's cheek. He missed everything about her: her smile, her caring manner, her irritated look, the way she tapped her fingers when she was nervous, but especially the way she looked at people when she was about to kick their butt: it was a smile but in the way that says _say one more word and you're gonna be on the ground bleeding._

He picked up the scissors on his desk and opened them up, about to cut through the tape. He figured he may as well do it today: the anniversary of E-Day.

But after minutes of agonising over it, he sadly put the scissors back on his desk and the box back under it.

…

 **WHAT is in that box? 'Fraid you'll have to wait a while *evil smile* I:}**


	8. Another Day, Another Fight

**Will things get better? Read the chapter, I'm not gonna tell ya!**

…

The next day when Sylvia came in, holding Nicky, she couldn't see Perry in reception, where it was arranged that she would meet him. She waited there for about ten minutes before someone she recognised came down in the elevator and began talking to the receptionist.

After he had finished, Sylvia quickly went over to him and said, "Excuse me? Are you Perry's friend?"

The Chihuahua nodded. "You must be Sylvia, the agent Perry's training. I'm Pinky."

Sylvia shook Pinky's paw. "Oh, and this is my son, Nicky."

"Doggy!" Nicky jabbed his finger at Pinky.

"How old is he?" asked Pinky with a smile as he tickled Nicky under his chin, to the baby platypus's delight.

"Five weeks."

"He's cute." Pinky stepped back. "Anyway, did you want Perry?"

"Yes. Usually he meets me in reception but he isn't here today."

"He probably fell asleep in his office," Pinky chuckled. "He does that a lot. Come on, I'll take you up there."

"Thanks."

As Sylvia followed Pinky, she had to stretch her legs as she walked. All of her limbs were still feeling stiff from the night before. _I guess I'm going to have to get used to it if I'm going to be doing this every day._

Nicky behaved very well on the way up. He pointed out random things and said their names—or he thought he did. The word "window" came out as "widow" and the word "duck" somehow came out as "mandam". But Sylvia kept giggling and tickling him to keep him happy. She even hummed _Hushabye Mountain_ under her breath, which apparently made him feel sleepy, because he fell asleep the moment they got up to the office floor.

Pinky went into Perry's office while Sylvia waited awkwardly outside with Nicky. The Chihuahua grinned. He had been right: Perry was indeed asleep at his desk. On his desk was a photo of Edith that had a tear through it, clearly torn off a wall in anger. Pinky bit his lip and gently woke Perry up.

"What…?"

"Perry, Sylvia is here."

If Pinky expected Perry to panic or at the very least get up and get ready straight away, he was disappointed. Perry sighed heavily and promptly rolled off his chair. Rubbing his head, he got up off the ground and stretched.

"She only has three weeks," Pinky reminded his best friend.

 _"_ _Don't think I don't know that,"_ hissed Perry.

Pinky stepped back. "I'm sorry."

"Just get out."

Perry turned away, so he missed the tears that threatened Pinky's eyes. The Chihuahua nodded sadly and said, "I'll…I'll get out of your way."

Pinky went to the door and caught Sylvia's eye. "He's just coming," he said quietly, before heading off to find Natasha.

Sylvia wondered what Perry had said slash done to make Pinky sad like that, but she had no time to dwell on it; Perry came out of his office cubicle at that moment. Sylvia automatically stood up a little straighter. "Sir?"

"Call me Perry," said the teal platypus grumpily as he walked past her.

Surprised, Sylvia followed. "Oh…okay."

 _Maybe he's mellowed a bit overnight?_

"When I'm not annoyed with you. And I'm expecting to be very annoyed with you."

 _Aaaaand we're back._

Back in the gym, Sylvia placed Nicky back in the pen she had created on the blue gym mat.

"Is he going to be quiet today?" grumbled Perry.

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"I'm prepared today."

Sylvia placed Moofie and a red rattle beside Nicky.

"A rattle. _That's_ going to be quiet," said Perry sarcastically.

"It's empty. It was driving me crazy with the noise so I emptied it. He doesn't care, though. He likes swinging it around and hitting it on the ground."

"Oh."

"And chewing on it."

"He doesn't have any teeth."

"He's strengthening his gums."

"Oh," Perry said again.

Once Sylvia was sure Nicky would be happy, she stood up straight and went over to Perry. "What are we going to be doing today?"

"I thought we could put some of the offensive and defensive moves into action today." Perry looked just as annoyed as ever, but there seemed to be a glint in his eye that Sylvia didn't like. "By sparring."

Sylvia's eyes widened and she automatically took a step back. "Oh…o-okay."

"Get into the pose I taught you."

Sylvia obeyed. Perry faced her and got into the same position. "Don't put much force into it, we're only training."

 _Yeah, like_ I'm _the one who's likely to put too much force into it._

But for the first few minutes, Sylvia managed to half-impress Perry. She had told the teal platypus that she was a quick learner, and it was showing. She remembered almost all the moves that Perry had taught her yesterday.

But after a minute more, Sylvia realised Perry was putting a lot more force into his blows. She was struggling to deflect them.

"Mummy!" yelled Nicky all of a sudden.

Her concentration lapsed for just a moment, but it was enough for Perry to find an opening. His fist slammed into her face, just below her eye, sending her down. Pain erupted through the left side of her face and she clutched her eye in pain.

"I-I'm…" Perry stammered. For once, he didn't look annoyed or sad. Then his normal look settled back on his face and he snapped, "Don't let your guard drop. Not even for a second."

Sylvia struggled not to cry, partly from her teacher's harshness, but mostly from the pain. Painful tears leaked out of her left eye as she dabbed at her face and pulled her fingers away. There was no blood but she knew that she was going to have a black eye for a while.

"Mummy!"

Sylvia drew herself up from the floor. Her leg felt painful from where she had hit it but she limped over to her son and stroked his head, saying, "It's okay, Nicky. Mummy's okay."

"Moofie?" said Nicky uncertainly.

"Moofie," Sylvia said, putting a weak smile on her face.

That seemed to satisfy Nicky. He let out a contented squeak and started attacking the noiseless rattle. Sylvia smiled genuinely as she watched her son play for a minute, before limping back over to Perry. To her surprise, he handed her an ice pack.

"Take ten," he said.

Sylvia nodded her thanks.

…

When her phone screen lit up with a FaceTime call from Sampson that night, Sylvia panicked. She had forgotten he was going to call her and therefore had not tried to hide her black eye. She had no time to do it now so she bit her lip and answered the call. Sampson appeared on screen, smiling. However, that smile soon disappeared.

"Syl, your eye!"

"What eye?"

"Your black eye! Did Perry do that to you?"

"It was an accident! We were sparring and Nicky distracted me and Perry accidentally hit me but it wasn't his fault, it was mine for being distracted!" Sylvia babbled.

Sampson narrowed his eyes. "Syl. Don't protect him."

"I'm not," Sylvia protested. "That really is what happened." She aimed the phone screen at Nicky, who was standing up in his cot again. "Tell him, Nick."

"Cow tastes nice," Nicky said solemnly.

"Cow?" said Sampson's half-amused voice.

Sylvia quickly turned the phone screen back to herself and explained, "It is not what you think it is! One of Perry's friends gave Nicky a cow-shaped sweet."

Sampson sighed. "It's day two and already you have a visible injury."

"Which is not Perry's fault."

"I never said it was. I just…I know you're not going to quit so let me just tell you to be careful."

"Okay."

"I'm being serious."

"Me too."

Sampson rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Syl, you've done a week's worth of training in two days. You have to make Perry tone it down."

"I'll try." Sylvia gave a smile.

"You're not going to ask him, are you?"

Sylvia grimaced. "I just don't want to cause any trouble."

"Sylvia-!"

"Okay!" Sylvia held her hand up. "I'll try. I really will."

"You better." Sampson gave the screen a death look. "Or I'll begin sprouting those wings."

"You can challenge him to a duel when you get back," Sylvia offered.

"Can't. I'm going straight from Rio to England to meet you when you get back. Hugh's coming over next week, though. I'll get him to beat Perry up."

Sylvia giggled. Then she paused. "Thanks for caring so much about me."

"Of course. You're my sister. Anyway, gotta go. Love you."

"Love you too."

…

 **In other words, no. They didn't get better XD if anything they got worse…**

 **Also:** **let's all just agree that Sampson is the best big brother ever XD**


	9. Try

**I do not own the song in this chapter. The whole song is included so you may as well check it out and listen to it while you read:**

 **Try-Patrick Brasca and Jay Chou**

 **Or you could just skip the song part XD**

...

The next day, Sylvia's black eye was still there. It didn't hurt anymore and she could see out of it but it still felt swollen and uncomfortable.

When Sylvia got into OWCA the next morning, she went straight to the gym without waiting for Perry. She put Nicky in his playpen. The little platypus was fast asleep but in case he woke up, Sylvia placed Moofie and the rattle down beside him. Then she dragged out the dummy and started practising her hitting and kicking moves on it.

When Perry arrived ten minutes later, Sylvia was so into her practising that she didn't notice him sit down and watch her until five minutes after he arrived. Truth be told, he was impressed. Not only was she remembering all the moves that he had taught her two days ago, but she hadn't called in sick to recover, like other trainees might have. Perry betted that her limbs were still very stiff and that her eye was uncomfortable but he grudgingly admired the way that she was here today, putting her all into training.

When Sylvia finally noticed him, she awkwardly stopped. "I…sorry, I didn't see you come in."

"It's fine. You were doing well."

Sylvia stared at him. That was the first compliment she had ever received from him about her fighting.

"Do you remember the move I taught you yesterday evening?"

She nodded.

"Do it now."

She obeyed, though her mind was still on the incident yesterday when Perry had accidentally hit her, and her foot slipped, making her fall over. She got up quickly and looked back at Perry. "S-sorry. I'm not in the right frame of mind. Can I quickly sing myself a song to get myself inspired?"

Perry rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine."

Sylvia smiled briefly. "Thank you."

She headed over to the other side of the gym and began to sing:

 _(Verse 1)_

 _You always have to do something_

 _Just to show the world that you exist_

 _So you try_

 _You hope they'll see_

 _If on this brand new day you'll look_

 _On the bright side of the same old street_

 _You will see_

 _What you deserve_

 _(Chorus)_

 _You just have to try, try, try, try_

 _Try to be who you are_

 _And you ought to fly, fly, fly, fly_

 _Step into the light_

 _And soon you will find_

 _(Be yourself)_

 _Somewhere deep inside_

 _There's a universe right there waiting to be unlocked_

 _The key lies in looking into yourself_

 _Oh try, try, try, try_

 _Just do what is right_

 _You'll fly so high, high, high, high_

 _Let go of the brakes_

 _Be who you are_

 _Be yourself 'cause your power is on_

 _When you believe in what you've got_

 _You know you're perfect just be who you are_

 _(Verse 2)_

 _So they don't see what you're made of_

 _But I like you and I know they are wrong_

 _Now it's time_

 _To show them what you got_

 _Let the blue skies cheer you on_

 _Embrace the wind you'll ride along_

 _You're perfect when you're who you are_

 _(Chorus)_

 _You just have to try, try, try, try_

 _To be who you are_

 _And you ought to fly, fly, fly, fly_

 _Step into the light_

 _And soon you'll find_

 _(Be yourself)_

 _Somewhere deep inside_

 _There's a universe right there waiting to be unlocked_

 _The key lies in looking into yourself_

 _Oh try, try, try, try_

 _Just do what is right_

 _You'll fly so high, high, high, high_

 _Let go of the brakes_

 _Be who you are_

 _Be yourself 'cause your power is on_

 _When you believe in what you've got_

 _You know you're perfect just be who you are_

 _(Chorus again)_

 _You just have to try_

 _To be who you are_

 _And you ought to fly, fly, fly, fly_

 _Step into the light_

 _And soon you will find_

 _(Be yourself)_

 _Somewhere deep inside_

 _There's a universe right there waiting to be unlocked_

 _The key lies in looking into yourself_

 _Oh try, try, try, try_

 _Just do what is right_

 _You'll fly so high, high, high, high_

 _Let go of the brakes_

 _Be who you are_

 _Be yourself 'cause your power is on_

 _When you believe in what you've got_

 _You know you're perfect just be who you are_

When Sylvia finished, she took a deep breath and went back over to Perry, who had obviously been listening. He nodded stiffly. "Nice song."

"It sounds better with the backing track, believe me."

"I'll take your word for it. Now, do that move again."

Sylvia did so. She felt herself stumble a little at the end, a fact that Perry picked up on. He made her repeat the move three times more before Sylvia finally got it right.

"Yes!" she said triumphantly.

"No," snapped Perry. "Far from perfect."

"What was wrong with it?" demanded Sylvia angrily.

Nicky suddenly began crying. Sylvia went over to him and picked him up, trying to calm him down by rocking him but it didn't work. Over the noise, Perry snapped at her, "Your posture was off, your right arm was more than three inches above where it should have been, and-."

He suddenly broke off and yelled, "WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT JIMMY UP!"

Sylvia stared at him and clutched Nicky closer to her. The baby platypus seemed to pick up on her fear and confusion but he stopped crying and clutched Sylvia's fur with his little fists.

Perry only realised what he had said about three seconds after he had said it.

"I-I mean…Nicky. Shut…Nicky…" He sighed. "Never mind."

He went over to the other side of the room and sat down on a pile of gym mats. He looked incredibly sad. Sylvia went over to him and sat next to him on the pile of mats. She looked sideways at him and found him gazing at the floor.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"Fine." His tone was not snappy this time; it was just sad.

"Maybe it will help to talk about whatever's on your mind," suggested Sylvia.

"I'm fine."

Sylvia decided to approach the situation differently. "Is Jimmy your and Edith's son?"

Perry looked sharply at her, and for a moment she was terrified that he was going to hit her. Then he sighed and said, "You know about Edith?"

"Pinky told me on the way up to your office yesterday," Sylvia replied. "I asked him why you hated me and he said I look like your mate, Edith."

Perry stared back down at the floor. "Did he tell you what happened to her?"

"No. Nobody did."

Perry was silent for a moment. Sylvia could almost see the gears turning in his head. "Then perhaps it would be best if it comes straight from me," he said quietly. "I'll tell you what happened to Edith."

…

 **FINALLY! But since I'm cruel, you're going to have to wait until next chapter to find out I:}**


	10. The First E-Day

**Warning: this will be a tear-jerker. So grab your hankies, folks. Jk. Well, not about the tear-jerker bit.**

…

 _It was a perfect summer's day. Despite the heat, Perry was sitting inside on his computer, typing up some report or another. The only upside to being indoors on such a lovely day was that it was air-conditioned._

 _"_ _Knock-knock," said a familiar voice._

 _Smiling, Perry spun his chair to see his lilac-coloured mate, holding a little teal-coloured bundle of fur._

 _"_ _Hey, Edith."_

 _He kissed his mate on the beak, to a "yuck!" from his son._

 _Perry laughed and ruffled Jimmy's head. "How's my favourite son?"_

 _The one-year-old platypus gave him a look. "I'm your only son."_

 _"_ _That's my boy," chuckled Perry._

 _"_ _It's such a nice day, I thought we could go outside," Edith said, smiling._

 _"_ _Well, I have this report to type up…"_

 _Perry trailed off as he saw Edith's irritated look. "How can I say no to that look?"_

 _"_ _This is my annoyed look, Perry."_

 _"_ _I know."_

 _Grinning, Perry saved his document and hibernated the computer. He followed his mate out into the sunshine. He squinted. "Where is everyone?"_

 _"_ _Mostly inside with work to do," Edith grinned. "Let's just sit down for a minute."_

 _They sat down together on the grass. Jimmy got to his feet and took off across the grass in hot pursuit of a butterfly. Edith smiled. "He's going to be chasing bad guys like that one day."_

 _"_ _I hope so." Perry put on a mock-serious look. "No son of the great Perry the Platypus can be anything less than OWCA's next top agent!"_

 _"_ _That sounds like a reality TV show," laughed Edith. "Like America's Next Top Model."_

 _"_ _OWCA's Next Top Agent," said Perry, dramatically spreading his arms, making Edith laugh again._

 _He loved her laugh._

 _"_ _You know I love you, right?" he said._

 _Edith grinned. "I know."_

 _Perry kissed her beak again._

 _"_ _Yuck!"_

 _"_ _Jimmy, if you don't like it when your father and I kiss, then you don't need to watch," said Edith amusedly._

 _Perry stretched out on the grass and sighed happily. "It really is a perfect day," he said aloud._

 _"_ _Yes, yes it is."_

 _They stayed out there for ten more minutes, before Perry got up. "I really should finish my report," he said regretfully._

 _"_ _We'll come with you," Edith said, standing up as well. "Then we can go for a picnic. Okay?"_

 _"_ _Sounds delicious."_

 _They went back inside and Perry went into his office. No sooner had he switched the computer on than Edith poked her head round the door. "By the way, everyone's gathering for an announcement out here."_

 _Sighing, Perry got up from his chair and went into the main part of the office floor, which was an open space. Almost all OWCA's agents were standing out there, looking at the intercom, which made the familiar bell noise that meant someone was about to speak._

 _Major Monogram's voice came out of it: "This is Major Monogram. Would all agents kindly report to the-." The intercom suddenly crackled out and was replaced by static. Everyone looked up at it, confused._

 _All of a sudden, the floor began to shake._

 _"_ _Earthquake!" screamed a cat agent. "We won't make it out in time!"_

 _Everyone ran around in a panic while the floor shook under their feet. Perry tried to get the agents to listen to him but they wouldn't. He tried to get them to calm down but they wouldn't. Parts of the ceiling were about to crumble and Perry knew that the building was not going to last much longer._

 _"_ _EVERYONE!" yelled Edith._

 _Everyone including Perry turned to look at her, though several people squeaked or flinched when they heard crashes._

 _"_ _There's a way out through the emergency chute!"_

 _Pulling Perry along with her, Edith began pushing the crowd of agents towards the emergency chute. It was a hole in the wall that looked like the start of a garbage chute but was covered by a door and big enough for even an elephant agent to get through. Perry and Edith began forming the agents into an orderly queue, though naturally there was quite a lot of shoving as the impatient agents tried to get out of the crumbling building._

 _When they were the last ones left, Edith quickly scooped up Jimmy and took Perry's hand. They jumped down the chute together and ended up outside HQ. Everyone was assembled outside, and Major Monogram was splitting agents into groups so he could count them. However, Perry was fairly confident that everyone was here._

 _He turned to smile at Edith but he found that his mate had a terrified look on her face. Her arms were empty._

 _"_ _Where's Jimmy?" she gasped._

 _"_ _You brought him in the chute, right?"_

 _"_ _Of course!"_

 _They searched round for a minute. When Perry turned back to his mate, he found Edith running towards the collapsing OWCA building._

 _"_ _Edith!" he yelled._

 _"_ _I saw him going in here!" she shouted back. "I have to get him!"_

 _"_ _Edith, no! It's not safe!"_

 _But Edith had already disappeared inside. Just as Perry made a move to go help her, the supports holding the OWCA building up snapped, and the building began to fall faster._

 _"_ _Edith!"_

 _Perry took off running towards the building but before he even got within fifty metres of it, the entire building collapsed in a cloud of smoke and spread rubble everywhere. Two pairs of hands grabbed Perry's arms and pulled him backwards as the rubble nearly covered him. Perry didn't even notice that it was Pinky and Natasha._

 _When the dust cleared, Perry stared at the collapsed building in horror. His hand flew to cover his mouth and he began hyperventilating. Apart from a pile of rubble, there was nothing left of the building. Nothing could have survived._

 _Perry ran up to the edge of the building and began desperately pulling rubble out of the pile. "Edith!" he yelled. "Edith!"_

 _He didn't notice Pinky and Natasha coming to help him._

 _After five minutes of searching, Perry found a limp lilac-coloured paw._

 _"_ _No!"_

 _After two more minutes of digging, he had recovered Edith's body. "Edith!"_

 _He desperately looked over at Pinky and Natasha, but his friends were presumably searching for Jimmy. His hyperventilating getting worse, he desperately shook Edith's body. "Come on, please!"_

 _He felt for a pulse and was nearly sick when he found none._

 _His Edith was dead._

 _She was never coming back._

 _"_ _NO! EDITH!"_

…

 **What did I tell ya? Anyone else crying?**


	11. An Idea

***is still crying too much to give a proper author's note***

…

Sylvia had tears rolling down her face as she placed her paw on Perry's. The teal platypus did not pull away.

"That's why the day I arrived is known as E-Day," she whispered.

"What I hate is that many people think E-Day stands for Earthquake Day, instead of being named after Edith, which it is. If she hadn't taken charge and got everyone out in time, we would have all died. But then…"

Tears fell down Perry's face. Sylvia put her arms around him and hugged him fiercely. She hated that he had had to go through this. Losing his mate and son at the same time must have really, really hurt him.

"I'm so sorry…"

"No, _I'm_ sorry," said Perry, making Sylvia pull away in surprise. "I treated you horribly, just because you look like Edith. There was no call for how hard I pushed you and how nasty I was to you."

"It's okay," Sylvia said softly. "I completely understand. You were still grieving and then along I came, looking exactly like your deceased mate. I bet you felt that like a blade to the stomach."

"Kinda," Perry admitted. "But the worst part…the worst part is that she was pregnant again."

"No…!" gasped Sylvia, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah…that's why it was extra-devastating. I never got to meet our second child. I don't even know if it was going to be a girl or a boy."

Sylvia was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Pinky and Natasha have been really worried about you. _Really_ worried."

"Our counsellor diagnosed me with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and anxiety," Perry told her. "So I guess they _were_ worried."

"Of course they were." Sylvia put her paw on Perry's shoulder. "They're your best friends. They didn't like seeing you so upset."

Perry sighed and looked away.

Sylvia frowned, deep in thought. Out of the blue, she asked, "Can I be excused from training for this evening and tomorrow until lunch?"

Perry stared at her. "Why?"

"There's something I need to do. Desperately."

Sylvia made a pleading face at Perry, who frowned. "I-I suppose I could let you, seeing as you've made so much progress in just three days…" He paused. "Okay."

"Yay!" Sylvia hugged Perry briefly, startling him, before she pulled away, gathered up Nicky and his belongings, and literally ran out of the room.

Perry watched her go, confused.

…

Sylvia raced up to Perry's office, hoping to bump into Pinky on her way there. She didn't, though she did find the female fennec fox whom she had seen with Pinky.

"Hi, are you Pinky's friend?" she asked, breathless.

The fennec fox gave a smile. "I'm his girlfriend, Natasha. You must be Sylvia."

Sylvia nodded. "It's really nice to meet you but I'm in a hurry. I need to find Pinky."

"Why?"

"I need to talk to both of you."

"Oh. Okay."

Natasha led Sylvia to Pinky's office, where the Chihuahua was sat behind his desk. He turned as they came in.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"I need your help," Sylvia said breathlessly. "Perry just told me what happened to Edith."

Pinky and Natasha exchanged a look. "Oh," said Pinky.

"I have something planned for him but I need your help to make it work."

"What is it?" Natasha asked.

Sylvia told them.

Pinky's face lit up first. "You'd really do that for Perry?"

"It's my forte," Sylvia explained. "I thought that this might be able to get through to Perry that he's not alone in this."

Natasha was nodding. "Absolutely. It's brilliant."

"Now, I'm hoping to finish it before tomorrow morning and perform it at lunchtime, so that leaves a morning to put everything into place, including learning the thing. Okay?"

"We'll meet you in reception at seven," Natasha said. "Lunch is at twelve. That gives us five hours to put everything together. Does that sound doable?"

"Perfect."

…

Sylvia burst into her apartment. She almost threw Nicky and his toys into his cot, before getting out her laptop and setting it up on her table. Then she got out her keyboard and placed that perpendicular to her laptop. Ideas were buzzing around her head. Usually it took her days to write a song but she had so much inspiration for both lyrics and tune that she was confident she would be able to finish it in about twelve hours. Hopefully.

"Mummy!" shouted Nicky.

Sylvia got up from her chair and picked Nicky out of the cot. She put the baby platypus on the table behind her laptop and gave him Moofie to play with. The table was too high for him to get down from and she would be able to keep an eye on him.

Sitting down behind the keyboard, Sylvia played a few notes and wrote them down.

Within five hours, she had finished the melody completely.

Within twelve hours, she had the lyrics.

By midnight, she had her song.

…

 ** _What is Sylvia planning?_** **Find out next chapter!**


	12. You Are Not Alone

**_What is Sylvia planning?_** **Find out this chapter!**

 **By the way, the song in this chapter is You Are Not Alone, the version performed by the X-Factor contestants of 2009. Look it up as you read. Play it as soon as the line** _As the intro started, she took a deep breath and began to sing_ **comes up, okay? It'll be better if you do, trust me.**

…

It was lunchtime the next day. Perry was sat at a table on his own at the back of the room when Sylvia poked her head through the curtains of the stage. She had left Nicky in the care of the receptionist, with toys to play with, though Sylvia was confident he would sleep for most of the day.

She turned to Pinky and Natasha, who were both behind her on the stage.

"Ready, guys?"

"We do have permission to do this, right?" asked Natasha.

Sylvia nodded. "Of course. I may not be an agent of OWCA but Major Monogram scares the heck out of me."

Natasha chuckled. "Me too."

"Anyway. Get your positions."

Sylvia strode out from behind the curtain and tapped her microphone, ensuring that it was on. "Hello?" Her magnified voice echoed throughout the room. "Hello, everybody. Hope you're enjoying your lunch. My name's Sylvia, and I'm an agent of the British OWCA. I'm here today as your lunchtime entertainment."

Most of the agents swivelled round to face her, interested. Sylvia hid a smirk as she saw the look that Perry was giving her from across the room: it was quizzical, embarrassed, and irritated all at the same time.

"I'm going to be singing a song for you guys today. It's written by me, especially for and dedicated to my mentor, Perry the Platypus."

A couple of agents turned round to look at Perry, who looked even more embarrassed. Sylvia prayed that this would work.

As the intro started, she took a deep breath and began to sing:

 _Another day has gone_

 _I'm still all alone_

 _How could this be that you're not here with me?_

 _You never said goodbye_

 _Someone tell me why_

 _Did you have to go and leave my world so cold?_

 _Every day I sit and ask myself: how did love slip away?_

 _Something whispers in my ear and says:_

As Sylvia went into the chorus, Pinky and Natasha emerged from behind the curtain and began singing along with her:

 _That you are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though you're far away_

 _I am here to say:_

 _That you are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though we're far apart_

 _You're always in my heart_

 _You are not alone._

This time, Natasha sang on her own:

 _Just the other night_

 _I thought I heard you cry_

 _Asking me to come_

 _And hold you in my arms_

Then Pinky sang on his own, in a voice that was surprisingly high for a dog's:

 _I can hear your prayers_

 _Your burdens I will bear_

 _But first I need your help_

 _Then forever can begin_

Then it was back to just Sylvia:

 _Every day I sit and ask myself: how did love slip away?_

 _Something whispers in my ear and says:_

All three of them sang the chorus again:

 _That you are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though you're far away_

 _I am here to say:_

 _But you are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though we're far apart_

 _You're always in my heart_

 _For you are not alone_

Then the melody changed and Sylvia sang on her own again:

 _Whisper three words and I'll come runnin'_

 _And girl you know that I'll be there_

Pinky and Natasha joined in for the third line:

 _I'll be there_

 _(chorus)_

 _You are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though you're far away_

 _I am here to stay_

 _For you are not alone_

 _For I am here with you_

 _Though we're far apart_

 _You're always in my heart_

 _You are not alone_

 _You are not alone_

Finally, Sylvia sang the last line on her own:

 _Not alone…_

The agents burst into applause as the three agents on stage took a bow.

Perry was sitting in his seat, stunned. He finally understood. Throughout his grief, he had been so blind to the fact that Pinky and Natasha were helping him every step of the way. That was why they were constantly around him. Not to be annoying, but because they cared about him and didn't want him to suffer alone. And Perry had pushed them away…

He got up and walked in a daze towards the stage. All the agents looked eagerly at him as he climbed onto the stage and faced Sylvia with a still-stunned expression on his face.

Then he did something he hadn't done since Edith died: he smiled.

Sylvia's own face lit up, and in that moment Perry stopped seeing her as Edith's lookalike and began seeing her for what she really was: beautiful, talented, kind, loyal, and loving. He knew that they hadn't gotten off to the best of starts, but if Sylvia had written a song just for him, perhaps she really cared about him too.

So he took a risk and kissed her.

She seemed surprised at first but then she relaxed into it. Perry was dimly aware of all the agents applauding wildly at their best agent finally finding love again.

He couldn't have found it with a better person: Sylvia had finally healed his broken heart and helped him let go of Edith. The song _You Are Not Alone_ actually had some lines in it that corresponded to certain parts of Perry's life. Two in particular stuck out to Perry:

 _You never said goodbye_ -Edith and Perry had not had the chance to say goodbye.

 _Did you have to go and leave my world so cold?-_ Perry's world had indeed been cold when Edith had died.

When Sylvia and Perry finally broke apart, they smiled at each other. Then Sylvia took Perry's hand and led him offstage.

"Where are we going?" Perry asked, chuckling.

"I've just realised I've left Nicky with the receptionist for an hour more than I said I would."

When they got down to reception, Sylvia gently picked up Nicky, who was shaking his rattle. Then she held him out to Perry, who, surprised, gently took the baby platypus. Nicky eyed Perry and then hit him in the forehead with the rattle.

"Nicky, we do not hit people!" scolded Sylvia.

However, all Perry did was laugh. "You really do remind me of Jimmy," he said.

"Daddy?" Nicky said quizzically.

Perry paused. Sylvia waited to see what he would say. If he said yes, then it would be pretty much establish that they were now mates. If he said no…Sylvia didn't really know what that would mean.

Perry smiled again. "Yes, Nicky. I'm your daddy."

…

 ***squeals extremely loudly for exactly six and a half years* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!**


	13. When You Least Expect It

**Another song is introduced in this chapter but you don't need to listen to it while you read; it's only one verse.**

…

Perry was sitting at his desk in his office, typing. It was a nice summer's day outside but Perry was nice and cool inside with the air conditioning on.

Someone knocked at his door. He turned and smiled when he saw Sylvia, holding Nicky in her arms.

"So…you know I only have a few days left in America, right?" she said hesitantly.

Perry's smile vanished and he nodded sadly.

The last two weeks had been amazing. He'd spent so much time with Sylvia and Nicky that he could barely remember a time in which he didn't have her.

Apart from E-Day last year, of course.

He didn't really want her to go back home. He would really miss her but he knew that her place was in England, in BOWCA. With her brothers.

"Anyway, it's such a nice day, I thought we could go outside."

Perry froze. His heart rate accelerated. He began breathing faster.

"Perry?" said Sylvia's concerned voice from somewhere in the distance.

She placed her hand on Perry's shoulder and gently massaged it. This calmed Perry down a lot, and he looked up into his concerned mate's face. "Sorry," he said. "It's just that…that's exactly what Edith said in the morning, before…"

"Oh!" Sylvia covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Perry said hurriedly. "You didn't know."

Sylvia took her hand away from her mouth and gave Perry a smile. "I was going to suggest a picnic but it's so hot out there so why don't I bring the picnic in here?"

"Okay," smiled Perry. "We can do that."

"Pinic!" yelled Nicky.

Sylvia grinned and handed her son to Perry. "I'll just go get it."

"Wait, you actually made up a picnic basket?" Perry was surprised.

Sylvia grinned. "I came prepared. I didn't want you to be kept waiting if you said yes."

Perry shook his head in amazement. "You're amazing."

"I know. Watch Nicky for me while I go down."

Five minutes later, Sylvia was back with a wicker picnic basket. She placed it on the floor, sat down next to it, and began unpacking things. Perry sat down on the floor next to her and put Nicky in his lap.

Sylvia first unpacked three plates. She put two in front of Perry and one in front of herself. Then about six plates of various foods followed it. Perry took a small egg mayonnaise sandwich and ate it whole.

"Oh, wow…that's delicious!"

"Songwriting isn't my only talent, you know."

"No, apparently you can also speak almost every language on this planet and decode almost any code on this planet."

Sylvia looked at him, amused. "How'd you know that? I never told you."

"I heard Major Monogram bragging about you to Carl the other day."

Sylvia chuckled. "Typical. Well, it's true."

"How did that happen?"

"Well…" Sylvia hesitated. "To tell you the truth…when I was younger, I wanted desperately to be an OWCA agent but I had a lung problem that prevented me from doing any physical exercise."

"That's why you tired so easily that first day," realised Perry, his eyes widening. "I am so sorry-."

"Hey, you've apologised for that twenty times now," Sylvia laughed. "It's fine. Anyway, it got so bad that there was a period where I couldn't even walk a few steps without getting as breathless as a normal person at the end of a marathon. I was receiving treatment for my condition but I was afraid that I would never be up to full strength, so I used half of the 15336 hours that I was stuck in bed for to learn linguistics and coding, things I was always good at."

Perry was doing a mental calculation in his head. Math wasn't his strong point but he managed to work it out. "You were stuck in bed for a year and three quarters?" he burst out.

Sylvia nodded. "Counted every hour," she said, eating a cheese-and-pineapple-on-a-stick. "I put all that energy in to learning linguistics and coding but I managed to recover from my lung condition anyway. That's when I started dancing. I thought it was too late for me to learn martial arts well enough to be an OWCA agent, but a few months ago, Inspector Initials told me there was a trip to America going and it would help me train. The rest you know."

"I had no idea you had such a rough time," Perry said sympathetically.

"It was made better by all my songs," Sylvia said. She ate two sandwiches in a row. "I hadn't actually made a CD by then but I had a lot of time to compose. Half of my 15336 hours were spent on linguistics and coding, the other half was on composing. It was during that time that I made _You'll Be In My Heart_ , _Try Everything_ , _I Know How The Moon Must Feel_ , and _Try._ Oh, and a song you haven't heard yet, called _Find Yourself._ Actually, that one needs a voice like yours. I think you'd suit it."

" _Find Yourself_?" repeated Perry. "Can you sing a bit of it for me?"

Sylvia smiled and sat upright. "It's not supposed to be in a feminine voice like mine, but okay."

She did a couple of vocal warmups and then she began to sing:

 _When you find yourself_

 _In some far off place_

 _And it causes you_

 _To rethink some things_

 _You start to sense_

 _That slowly you're becoming someone else_

 _And then you find yourself_

 _When you make new friends_

 _In a brand new town_

 _And you start to think_

 _About settlin' down_

That was all she managed before she began coughing violently. It wasn't choking, so Perry knew it wasn't caused by any food or anything. He quickly rubbed her back and held her hand until it stopped about a minute later.

"Does that happen often?" Perry asked worriedly.

"Yeah but I haven't had it that bad since my condition stopped."

"This might be serious," said Perry doubtfully. "Maybe I should take you to Apollo, just in case."

"I'll be fine," wheezed Sylvia.

"Mummy!" shouted Nicky.

Sylvia picked the baby platypus up and tickled his stomach, making him giggle. "Mummy's okay," she told him.

Then she passed him to Perry. "I just want to go outside for some air."

"Want me to come?"

"It's fine, Perry. I'm just out of breath."

Sylvia got up and walked unsteadily towards the door. She made it a metre out the office before she suddenly collapsed. Perry plonked Nicky on his desk and ran towards his mate. She was gasping for breath.

"Sylvia!" Perry shouted in panic.

He looked up and saw a duck agent and a cat agent watching him nervously.

"Get Apollo!" Perry yelled at them. "NOW!"

…

 ***le gasp***


	14. Surgery

**IS SYLVIA OKAY? Read the chapter to find out, I'm not gonna tell ya XD**

…

Perry had never felt more sick in his life. He kept thinking he was about to throw up but then the feeling would dissipate and the pain would move to his chest. Then back to feeling sick. It was a cycle.

He was sitting on a chair in the waiting room, as he had been for the last hour. Nicky was lying asleep in his lap. Perry felt envious of his son; he wished he could just sleep through his troubles.

"Perry?"

Perry looked blearily up and noticed that Apollo had entered the room. He stood up too quickly, nearly dropping Nicky. "Is she okay?" he asked worriedly.

Apollo had two X-Rays with him. Looking rather grim, he held up the first one to show Perry. "This is a picture of a pair of healthy lungs."

He held up the other one. "This is a picture of Sylvia's lungs."

Perry was no doctor but even he could tell the difference between the two pictures. "What's that lump on the second one?"

"It seems that a few years ago, Sylvia had a lung condition."

"I know. She told me."

"Well, unfortunately, a lump has been growing in her right lung ever since the day she recovered. Now that it's big enough, it's preventing her from breathing very well."

"Will you need to operate to remove it?" Perry asked fearfully.

Apollo nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, if we operate, there will be a 60% chance of death. But if we don't, there'll be a 95% chance of death."

"Then you have to operate on her!" Perry felt very scared of losing another mate. "I can't lose my mate and Nicky can't lose his father."

Apollo nodded again. "I thought you might say that." He paused, allowing everything to sink into Perry's brain. "You can see her now."

Clutching Nicky, Perry followed Apollo into the ward, where he found his mate lying still in a hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask like the ones on planes. Her eyes were closed, but both the steady rise and fall of her chest and the beeping of the heart monitor reassured Perry that she was still alive.

He sat down in a chair next to the bed. She was always so full of life…seeing her like this was horrible.

Perry placed Nicky on the bed next to Sylvia. The baby platypus crawled onto his mother's stomach and looked at her face. "Mummy?"

There was no reply.

"Why Mummy not wake up?" Nicky asked Perry.

"She…Mummy's ill," Perry croaked.

"Mummy be okay?"

Perry wished Nicky was old enough to hear the truth but he knew he couldn't do that to the poor boy. "Hopefully, Nick."

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into the face of OWCA's doctor. "It's now or never," he said. "After the operation, there needs to be a period of about four hours for her lungs to recover."

Perry had tears in his eyes as he choked, "Can I stay with her?"

"I'm sorry, but you can't."

"Not even in the four hours?"

Apollo shook his head.

Perry gently tried to pick up Nicky but the baby platypus wrapped both his arms and legs around Sylvia's arm and yelled, "No! Wanta stay with Mummy!"

Perry felt his heart break for his son but he said, "No, Nicky. We need to go."

"MUMMY!" bellowed Nicky. "WANTA STAY WITH MUMMY!"

"He can stay with Sylvia when she's in surgery if he promises to stay out of the way," Apollo said.

Perry stared at him. "Really?"

"He's small. If he stays where he is now, he'll be out of the way and…well, who knows. Maybe his presence will subconsciously reassure Sylvia."

Perry addressed the nearly-crying Nicky. "Nick, you can stay with Mummy but you have to promise to stay exactly where you are. Okay?"

Nicky nodded. "I stay here with Mummy," he said.

Perry stroked his head. "Good boy."

…

Apollo prepared the place for surgery. He wheeled the gurney into the centre of the room and applied the brakes. The baby platypus was still clinging onto his mother's arm as if it was his lifeline.

His nurses, Rendi Meyer and Marika Gorski, were preparing the instruments. It was to be a fairly simple procedure so he didn't need his full body of nurses.

Halfway through the surgery, Apollo realised something was off.

Rendi saw it at the same time. "Sir, her lungs aren't responding the way they should be," he said worriedly.

"I know…" muttered Apollo. He always felt calm in surgery unless something was going wrong and he didn't know what it was. "Why aren't they…?"

Something suddenly began beeping frantically. Marika examined the piece of machinery and reported to Apollo: "Her lungs are deflating rapidly!"

Apollo cursed under his breath and said, "Is there any way to stop it?"

Marika had no answer. She bit her lip anxiously and looked towards Rendi, who answered for her: "There is one way…"

…

 ***le cliffhanger time* WILL SYLVIA BE OKAY?**


	15. After Surgery

**WHAT IS THE COMPLICATION?**

…

Perry had moved his computer to the floor and was lying on his desk on his back with his fingers interlocked over his stomach. He couldn't focus on anything else so he was just doing that while vaguely listening to Pinky and Natasha chatting in the background. He didn't really know what they were chatting about; he had just invited them over to his office so that he didn't have to be alone. He didn't even have Nicky to keep him company.

When the cat agent came to his office to tell him that Apollo had finished the surgery, Perry literally fell off his desk and ran to the waiting room, where he found Apollo coming out of the hospital bay. He looked both tired and solemn, which scared Perry.

"Is it over?" he asked. "Did you operate?"

Apollo blinked tiredly. "Yes, Perry. We operated. Now there's the four hour period where she needs to rest."

"Was it successful?"

Apollo looked away. "She did not die."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it was successful," Perry said, before he realised what had just come out of his beak. "I mean…of course it's successful if she didn't die, but were there any side effects or anything?"

"You could say that."

"What were they?" demanded Perry, tired of having to ask Apollo lots of questions.

"During the surgery, Sylvia's lungs did not respond as they were supposed to," Apollo explained. "They were deflating rapidly. If we had left it for a minute longer, she would have suffocated."

Perry sucked in a breath. He had been so close to losing Sylvia too!

"We…we had to restore her lung condition to save her life," Apollo said quietly. "That means she won't be able to run or do any hard physical exercise for more than five minutes or she might suffer cardiac arrest."

"So she can't be an OWCA agent?" asked Perry sadly.

Apollo shook his head. "I'm afraid not. But I looked at her file just now, and she can get a job in linguistics."

Perry perked up. "Really?"

"It won't be field work of course, but she can still work for OWCA if she wishes to."

"Can I see-?" Perry began, before remembering that Apollo had told him that during the four hour period, he wouldn't be able to see her. "Thank you for telling me. When will she get better?"

"Well, I've told Major Monogram that she will have to stay in America for at least another week so she can properly recover from the surgery. She'll probably be out of hospital within a day or so, assuming there won't be any more problems or complications."

Perry brightened even more. He would get to spend another week with Sylvia and Nicky before they went back to the UK! Sure it was because Sylvia was ill, but she was hopefully going to recover in the next day, so that still left a whole week together more than they were expecting.

"Is Nicky still in there?" Perry asked.

Apollo nodded. "He's asleep. I'll get him for you."

He disappeared back into the hospital bay and reappeared a minute later, holding the small peach-coloured platypus in his hands. Sure enough, Nicky seemed to be sleeping. Apollo handed the baby to Perry, who then left the waiting room and went straight back to his office. Natasha and Pinky had gone. He sat down in his chair and rocked Nicky in his arms.

"Mommy's going to be okay," he whispered to his son. "Don't you worry."

"Daddy," muttered Nicky sleepily.

Perry froze. Nicky hadn't even said the word "daddy" since he had asked if Perry was his daddy on the day that Perry and Sylvia had become mates.

"Nick?" he said uncertainly.

Nicky's eyes opened halfway and he smiled dozily up at Perry. "Daddy," he stated sleepily. "You Daddy."

A beam spread onto Perry's face. "Oh, Nicky. I'm your daddy…and I will always be here for you."

"Daddy," yawned Nicky. "I tired."

Perry thought for a moment to see if he could remember all the words to the song. He had heard the demo _and_ Sylvia singing it many times in the past.

 _A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain_

 _Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay_

 _It fills the sails of boats that are waiting_

 _Waiting to sail your worries away._

 _It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain_

 _And your boat waits down by the quay_

 _The winds of night so softly are sighing_

 _Soon they will fly your troubles to sea._

Nicky was asleep before he had finished the first verse. He rocked his son gently before lying Nicky down in his lap. He retrieved his computer, set everything back up, and checked his emails. He found a very recent one:

 **TO: owcaperrytheplatypus**

 **FROM: owcacarltheintern**

 **SUBJECT: meeting**

 **To Agent P**

 **Please report to Major Monogram as soon as you get this email, unless it is after five pm, in which case it is too late.**

 **From Carl**

Perry glanced at the clock on his computer. It said _14:09._ He sighed. He didn't really want to go in the mission but perhaps it would take four hours and he'd have something to do while Sylvia recovered.

After calling Natasha to come babysit Nicky, Perry headed to Major Monogram's office.

…

 ***le wink* MISSION TIME!**


	16. I'm Awake

The mission that Major Monogram had given him was rather simple: Doctor Doofenshmirtz had created some sort of new –inator and Monogram wanted Perry to go smash it.

The whole thing took three hours. It would have been shorter but Perry had waited in his trap until the last possible second to escape, and then he had deliberately drawn out the fight. Not just to try and use the fight to take up the four hour period in which he couldn't see Sylvia; he also needed something to keep his mind off of Sylvia, and this fight had been ideal. Doofenshmirtz had been babbling about something or another and Perry had focused on that. It had actually turned out to be a rather complicated and amusing backstory.

When he got back to OWCA HQ, it was nearly six in the evening. He went straight to Natasha's office to collect Nicky. He had intended to immediately go find Sylvia in the hospital bay but he was feeling tired.

The next thing he knew, he woke up at his desk. The clock said eight am.

 _I slept for twelve hours!_ Perry realised with a jolt.

Gathering up Nicky, who was asleep on the desk, he went straight to the waiting room. He met Apollo as the doctor was just coming out.

"Ah, Perry. I was just coming to look for you."

Perry nearly let out a stream of _"OH MY GOSH HAS SOMETHING HAPPENED IS SHE OKAY DID SHE DIE"_ but Apollo's lack of a serious tone made him hold his tongue and simply ask, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's great," Apollo smiled. "I was worried about the effect that the surgery will have on Sylvia's ability to sing."

Perry felt a sting of guilt. _He_ hadn't thought of that. "And?"

"She'll still be able to sing like normal," Apollo replied. "As long as she doesn't overly strain herself, she can still do performances that are less than an hour in length, unless she has regular five minute breaks."

"That's great news," Perry sighed in relief. "Can I see her now?"

"Sure. She's been awake all night, though, so she might be asleep. I think she's been composing."

With Nicky, Perry went into the hospital room. Sure enough, Sylvia was asleep in her bed, under the covers. She wasn't looking as pale as she was before, which Perry knew was a good sign. He sat down beside Sylvia's bed and placed Nicky on the sheet. The baby platypus crawled up onto his mother's body and curled up. That woke Sylvia. Her eyes opened and she smiled, stroking her son gently.

"How are you feeling?" Perry asked his mate.

"Out of breath at the moment," Sylvia replied. "Apollo said that's how I'm going to feel for about a week so I'm used to it. How's Nicky been?"

"Missing his mom."

"And you?"

"Missing my mate."

Sylvia chuckled. "Apollo told me I can still sing, which is a relief."

"Yeah it is. I know you love singing."

Sylvia grinned. "I've already composed a song while I was in here. Well, I have the lyrics and some of the tune."

"Already?"

"Well, the first thing I thought of when I woke up was you," Sylvia smiled. "And I felt like I was on top of the world, even though I was lying in a hospital bed. By the way, was Nicky there when I had my operation?"

Perry nodded. "I managed to persuade Apollo to let Nicky stay with you during surgery."

Sylvia put her paw on Perry's. "Thank you. I really appreciate everything you've done for me and Nicky."

"You're my family now," Perry said. "You're my mate and Nicky's our son. I feel like he's my own."

"I feel like that too," said Sylvia, before she yawned. "Man, I'm tired."

"You should go back to sleep, then," said Perry. "Nick and will stay with you until you fall asleep."

Sylvia took Perry's hand and interlocked their fingers. "I love you, Perry."

"Love you too, Syl."

Sylvia smiled. Then her eyes slowly closed and her chest began moving rhythmically up and down. Nicky fell sideways in panic. "Mummy dead!" he proclaimed, terrified.

Perry quickly scooped Nicky up and held the shaking baby in his hands. "No, Nicky. Mommy's just asleep."

"Mummy asleep?" Nicky asked.

Perry nodded. "That's right. Mommy's asleep."

…

When Sylvia woke up, Perry was gone. Her iPad with her piano app was by her bed, so she lifted this up and began composing the melody for her new song. There was a reason she had chosen the words "top of the world" when telling Perry about her new song.

It was the title of her new song.

…

 **I highly recommend looking up the song Top Of The World by The Carpenters; this is the perfect song for their relationship, and it's going to be featured next chapter.**


	17. Top Of The World

**Penultimate chapter! I do not own the song in this chapter.**

…

Two days later, Sylvia was released from hospital. She was given with her a special breathing device that generated oxygen for her without her having to plug it in to anything. It worked almost like an inhaler for asthmatics.

She was busy working on the arrangement. She knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to do the exact same thing she had done when she sang _You Are Not Alone_ but this time it was a happy song.

At lunchtime that same day, Sylvia gave Nicky to Natasha to look after and headed onto the stage in the main hall where agents were sitting and eating food.

"Hello everyone!" she said into the mic. "I think you remember me. I'm Sylvia."

Everyone turned round to face her. Sylvia could see Perry sitting on his own again. This time he was giving her an amused look.

"I'll be your entertainment this fine afternoon. This song is a little different to the one I played before, but I hope you enjoy it."

Sylvia caught Perry's eye. Her mate's amused look hadn't faltered, but he had also risen an eyebrow.

 _I hope this works._

Pinky played the music, and Sylvia sang:

 _Such a feeling's comin' over me_

 _There is wonder in most everything I see_

 _Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes_

 _And I won't be surprised if it's a dream_

Sylvia grinned as she saw Perry's surprised yet pleased face.

 _Everything I want the world to be_

 _Is now comin' true especially for me_

 _And the reason is clear, it's because you are here_

 _You're the nearest thing to Heaven that I've seen_

Sylvia started bashing on a tambourine in time to the music as she started the chorus.

 _I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation_

 _And the only explanation I can find_

 _Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around_

 _Your love's put me at the top of the world_

Perry couldn't describe how touched he was feeling. He loved the tune and the lyrics made him happy because they told him that Sylvia felt the same about him as he did about her.

 _Somethin' in the wind has learned my name_

 _And it's tellin' me that things are not the same_

 _In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze_

 _There's a pleasin' sense of happiness for me_

Perry had also noticed that things looked different now that he was with Sylvia.

 _There is only one wish on my mind_

 _When this day is through I hope that I will find_

 _That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me_

 _All I need will be mine if you are here_

 _(chorus)_

 _I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation_

 _And the only explanation I can find_

 _Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around_

 _Your love's put me at the top of the world._

 _I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation_

 _And the only explanation I can find_

 _Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around_

 _Your love's put me at the top of the world._

As the last bars of the melody faded out and the lights came back on, Perry rushed up onto the stage and kissed Sylvia in front of everybody, who applauded even harder.

"This is amazing," he said to Sylvia. "When did you-?"

"I wrote it while I was in the hospital," Sylvia replied, smiling. "Because I feel on top of the world every time I'm with you. I love you, Perry."

"I love you too."

They kissed again, before heading off the stage. Pinky and Natasha met them as they came off, the latter of whom had Nicky in her arms.

"That was truly amazing, Sylvia," Pinky smiled. "You really have a talent for songwriting."

"Thanks." Sylvia sighed happily. "I'm just glad my lung condition doesn't stop me from singing. That would be the worst thing I could imagine."

"Well, you did really well," Natasha said. "Here's your kid back."

She handed Nicky to Sylvia. The baby immediately shrieked, "Moofie!" and firmly placed his paw on Sylvia's beak. Perry and Sylvia both laughed.

"I'm starving," Sylvia said. "Isn't it lunchtime soon?"

"That _was_ lunchtime," Perry replied with a grin.

"Oh."

"But Major Monogram never minds if we leave early, so let's go back to my house. My owners are all out so I can fix us something without fear of them walking in on us."

"Okay."

…

Perry sat down with Sylvia and Nicky on the sofa. Each of them had a sandwich, though Nicky's was just a piece of bread that he was attacking with gusto.

Perry had only just realised something, and that something worried him a lot. "So…your extra week in America is almost over," he said. "Then you're going back to England…"

Sylvia didn't say anything for a minute. Then she surprised Perry by smiling. "I know."

"Aren't you sad to go?" Perry asked, a feeling of worry growing in him.

"Nope."

"Oh…" Perry hung his head.

"Because I'm not going, you numpty," grinned Sylvia.

Perry stared at her. "What?"

"I applied to transfer to America permanently and both Major Monogram and Inspector Initials agreed. Nicky and I are going to be staying here."

Perry got up, actually grabbed Sylvia, and swung her around, making her giggle. "I can't believe it! You're staying here!"

"We are," beamed Sylvia. "I couldn't go back to England knowing that I was leaving you behind."

"Best day ever!" Nicky yelled from the sofa, making Perry and Sylvia laugh.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," grinned Perry.

…

 **Awwww who loves Nicky? *raises hand* cuz I do.**

 **Also: Sylvia's staying with Perry! YAY!**


	18. Three Years Later

**Three Years Later:**

"Mum, can I get ice cream?" asked Nicky, jiggling on his seat.

Sylvia grinned and looked across at her mate, who was sitting next to her on the bench. "What do you think, Perry?"

"I think it's such a hot day we could all do with ice creams," Perry grinned, fanning himself with a piece of paper. "Seriously, who's in charge of the sun today? It's like a hundred degrees out here."

Sylvia looked at him in confusion for a minute before laughing. "Three years I've lived in this country and I still haven't become used to using Fahrenheit instead of Celsius."

"If it was a hundred degrees Celsius, we'd have a serious problem," Perry said lazily.

"Technically we'd all be dead at like sixty Celsius," Sylvia said. "So technically there wouldn't be anyone left by the time it got to a hundred."

"This is a rather morbid conversation," Perry remarked.

"Yes, yes it is. How about those ice creams, then?"

Perry shot Sylvia a look. "Okay, but whoever doesn't get them pays for them."

Sylvia pretended to get up. "Nah, not worth it."

She handed a twenty dollar bill to Perry, who grinned and headed off.

"Why don't you go with your father and choose which ice cream you want?" Sylvia suggested to Nicky, who leapt off the bench.

"Okay!" He ran off to catch up with Perry.

All of a sudden, Sylvia heard a small cry. She reached into the platypus-sized baby stroller and quickly found which of the twins was crying.

"C'mere, Becca," she said fondly, stroking the one-month-old platypus. "You know, I met your father when Nicky was your age."

Becca stopped crying and looked up at Sylvia with adorable brown eyes. "Nacky," she said.

Sylvia had just begun cooing over how cute Becca was when the baby's twin started crying too. She placed Becca in the crook of her left arm and fished the other twin out of the stroller and held her in the crook of her other arm. She gently rocked both twins. Becca stayed silent but Millie didn't stop crying, so Sylvia carefully put Becca back in her stroller and focused all her efforts on calming Millie. It reminded her of when Nicky cried when he was their age…

She got an idea.

 _Come stop your crying, it will be all right_

 _Just take my hand, hold it tight_

 _I will protect you from all around you_

 _I will be here, don't you cry._

Just like it had on Nicky three years ago, it worked. Millie stopped crying before the second line and was asleep by the fourth. Sylvia smiled and put Millie back in the stroller.

Perry and Nicky came back, holding ice creams. Nicky had what looked like toffee and Perry was holding two: chocolate and mint. He handed the chocolate one to Sylvia, who grinned. "You remembered I liked chocolate, then?"

Perry nodded but Nicky said proudly, "I had to tell him! He was going to choose your least favourite for you."

Sylvia burst out laughing as Perry gave Nicky a glare. "Thanks, Nick."

"You're welcome, Dad!"

Perry quickly grabbed Nicky before he could get away and began tickling him. Nicky squealed. "No-no-no-no-no!" he screamed, giggling madly.

"All right, calm down," Sylvia laughed, wrestling Nicky away from Perry. She settled her son on her lap as he recovered from the tickling. "Perry, why don't you give Becca and Millie a taste of ice cream?"

"Aren't they too young?" Perry asked.

"They're almost onto solid foods now," Sylvia replied. "Like Nicky was at this age."

As Perry took Becca and Millie out of their stroller, he smiled. "I can't believe it's been three years since we met."

"I know, right?" Sylvia also smiled. "It seems like only a few weeks ago that I sang _You Are Not Alone_ for you."

Perry paused for a minute, gently jiggling the twins. "It was the four year anniversary of Edith's death two days ago."

"Really?" Sylvia frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to burden you guys with it," Perry replied. "I mean, I've moved on. I have a new family now."

"That doesn't mean you can't still miss her," Sylvia pointed out. "She was your first love. _Do_ you still miss her?"

Perry paused again, thinking. "Sometimes," he replied eventually. "When I'm alone, I sometimes think about her and what would have happened if she hadn't died." He smiled again. "But when I'm with you, everything's better. You're my new family."

Nicky scrambled off Sylvia's lap and hugged Perry. "You may not be my biological father but I consider you to be my only daddy," he said sincerely.

Perry hugged his son back. "And you may not be my biological son, but I consider you to be my only son."

"Would you have said that if one of the twins was a boy?" asked Nicky.

"Of course not. If one of the twins was a boy, you wouldn't be my only son."

"What about Jimmy?" asked Sylvia quietly.

Nicky sat between Sylvia and Perry as the latter pondered his answer. "Well, we never found his body," he said eventually. "But…he can't have survived. If he were alive, he would be my son too. But he isn't, and nothing can change that." He smiled and ruffled Nicky's head. "I'm happy to be stuck with you."

Nicky stuck his tongue out at Perry, who did it back at him.

"Real mature," snickered Sylvia. "Anyway, it's time we got back. Your father's cooking tonight."

"I am?"

"You are now."

Sylvia stood up and began pushing the stroller away. Perry followed, holding Nicky's little paw.

Three and a half years ago, Perry wouldn't have thought he was capable of such happiness again. But because Sylvia just hadn't given up on him, he now had two beautiful new daughters of his very own, plus Nicky.

And Sylvia. The girl who had taught him that he wasn't alone.

That truly was how to heal a broken heart.

…

 **Last chapter over! Thank you to everyone who has ever read this story and who will read this story in the future. Plans for a sequel are in the works but I'm going to focus more on my other stories for now.**


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